What do Amanda Palmer, John Oates, Lindsey Stirling, Hanson and the Wu-Tang Clan have in common? Perhaps not much on the surface, but upon closer inspection, there's one common thread: they're all finding ways to have success outside of the major label framework.

These days, that’s more important than ever. Record companies have not only saved but strengthened their hold on the business by snapping up stakes in the music startups poised to dominate tomorrow's music landscape, a trend detailed by yours truly and Nick Messitte in the FORBES magazine story "Revenge Of The Record Labels."

“I, like many artists, fundamentally detest being told what to do by others,” says Palmer, who in 2012 raised a then-record $1.2 million on Kickstarter to make an album. “That's why most of us became musicians to begin with.”

Palmer is one of many artists who’ve found focusing on super-fans can be a lucrative strategy for an artist. Whereas the career of an international superstar still often requires the upfront investment and worldwide infrastructure offered by a major label, it’s possible to thrive on a smaller scale—and keep a bigger cut of every dollar that comes in.

That was part of the thought process behind the decision of Hall & Oates to go independent two decades ago. After they found major label attention waning as grunge rock replaced their brand of music in the early 1990s, they decided to strike out on their own. Says Oates: “We said, ‘You know what, let's control everything we do, and let's be satisfied with selling our music to a smaller group of dedicated fans.’”

Today, they still gross some $200,000 per night on the road, and they don't have to share any of it with a label. Majors have always made venture capitalist-esque investments in up-and-coming acts, but these days it often comes with similar strings attached. With recorded music revenue far from its peak, major labels often require acts to sign over 10-20% of touring profits.

That’s something Oklahoma trio Hanson doesn’t have to worry about, either. The three brothers founded their own label, 3CG, in 2004 and have since released five albums that have been gobbled up not by millions in the mainstream, but by scores of super-fans. “Unlike the labels,” says Taylor, “we know where the core fans are.”

Since then, Hanson has channeled that energy into launching its own music festival (Hop Jam), creating a beer brand (MmmHops) and playing over 100 shows since the beginning of 2013 alone, averaging a nightly gross of $40,000. Adds Isaac: “We have a really good 360 deal--with ourselves.”

Acts like Hanson and Hall & Oates have certainly benefited from the exposure they gained during their major label years; other acts, like Lindsey Stirling, have done well being rebuffed. After the 28-year-old dancing violinist was booted from a semifinal round of America’s Got Talent in 2010, she pressed on and found a more receptive audience on YouTube.

“I didn't have to wait for someone to invest in me,” she says. “The tools were there for me to invest in myself.”

Stirling played weddings and bar mitzvahs, sometimes sleeping in airports and rental cars to save cash, and poured every remaining penny into her videos. Today she’s got 6 million subscribers; her latest album, Shatter Me, reached No. 2 on the Billboard charts. By the end of July, Stirling will have played 69 shows in 22 countries this year alone, grossing over $50,000 per stop.

Cilvaringz and RZA: By selling just one copy of the Wu-Tang Clan's secret album, these music mavericks are taking an old school approach that dates back to the Renaissance. Photo by Jamel Toppin.

For some acts, though, the business plan doesn’t require having hundreds of thousands of super-fans around the globe. In the case of the Wu-Tang Clan, all it takes is one.

In an effort to take music back to its Renaissance roots, where wealthy patrons funded painters and musicians alike as they created timeless works, Wu-Tang secretly recorded double album Once Upon A Time In Shaolin over six years and will sell the lone disc directly to a single wealthy fan.

Wu-Tang ringleader RZA said the group has already received a $5 million offer for the album, though he seems to think they can do better. The collective has since tapped Paddle8, an upstart online auction house backed by the likes of Damien Hirst and the Mellon family, to handle the sale.

Not all of music’s mavericks are artists, of course. Brittany Hodak and Kim Kaupe founded ZinePak four years ago to focus on making deluxe physical editions of albums. Though the duo has worked with major labels on packaging releases by the likes of Katy Perry and Justin Bieber, they offer a path for artists to better discover—and monetize—their own super-fans independently.

Mumford & Sons, for example, asked Zinepak to make passport-esque tickets for its traveling music festival; fans could get stamps throughout each show, and those who filled up their booklets received a prize. Says Kaupe: “When the tour goes out next time, they can target those fans.” Meanwhile, the bootstrapping duo expects to score revenues of about $5 million in 2015.

Jordan Passman, another 30 Under 30 entrepreneur who hasn't accepted a penny of outside investment, launched ScoreAScore to connect brands from Verizon to Subaru with composers looking for music-scoring gigs. He has brokered individual deals worth $60,000, not a bad for a musician operating beyond the major label framework; Passman’s startup gets a 50% cut, and revenues reached $1.3 million last year.

At the end of the day, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer for musicians looking to monetize their work. The Rihannas and Justin Timberlakes of the world will probably always need a major label, or something like it. But for the acts who can’t sell out stadiums or make a stream of Spotify pennies add up to millions, there are more new paths than ever toward living a lucrative life as an independent musician. And that’s music to a lot of ears.

“What we do creatively should be compensated,” says Oates. “I come from that school because that’s how I started, that’s what I believe in. And I think there’s a lot of value there.”